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Research

2023

Viruses

Development of an IgY-Based Treatment to Control Bovine Coronavirus Diarrhea in Dairy Calves

Bok, Marina, et al. “Development of an IgY-Based Treatment to Control Bovine Coronavirus Diarrhea in Dairy Calves.” Viruses, vol. 15, no. 3, 2023, p. 708, https://doi.org/10.3390/v15030708.

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Bovine Coronavirus (BCoV) is a major pathogen associated with neonatal calf diarrhea. Standard practice dictates that to prevent BCoV diarrhea, dams should be immunized in the last stage of pregnancy to increase BCoV-specific antibody (Ab) titers in serum and colostrum. For the prevention to be effective, calves need to suck maternal colostrum within the first six to twelve hours of life before gut closure to ensure a good level of passive immunity. The high rate of maternal Ab transfer failure resulting from this process posed the need to develop alternative local passive immunity strategies to strengthen the prevention and treatment of BCoV diarrhea. Immunoglobulin Y technology represents a promising tool to address this gap. In this study, 200 laying hens were immunized with BCoV to obtain spray-dried egg powder enriched in specific IgY Abs to BCoV on a large production scale. To ensure batch-to-batch product consistency, a potency assay was statistically validated. With a sample size of 241, the BCoV-specific IgY ELISA showed a sensitivity and specificity of 97.7% and 98.2%, respectively. ELISA IgY Abs to BCoV correlated with virus-neutralizing Ab titers (Pearson correlation, R2 = 0.92, p < 0.001). Most importantly, a pilot efficacy study in newborn calves showed a significant delay and shorter duration of BCoV-associated diarrhea and shedding in IgY-treated colostrum-deprived calves. Calves were treated with milk supplemented with egg powder (final IgY Ab titer to BCoV ELISA = 512; VN = 32) for 14 days as a passive treatment before a challenge with BCoV and were compared to calves fed milk with no supplementation. This is the first study with proof of efficacy of a product based on egg powder manufactured at a scale that successfully prevents BCoV-associated neonatal calf diarrhea.

Other Research

Calf Research

Effect of immunized egg proteins on the performance and neonatal diarrhoea incidence in newborn calves

2021

Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of feeding immunized egg proteins (IEP) on the health and performance of newborn dairy calves. Sixty-four Holstein calves, both male…

Calf Research

A new passive immune strategy based on IgY antibodies as a key element to control neonatal calf diarrhea in dairy farms

2020

BMC Veterinary Research

Neonatal diarrhea remains one of the main causes of morbi-mortality in dairy calves under artificial rearing. It is often caused by infectious agents of viral, bacterial, or parasitic origin. Cows…

Review Articles

Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgY) and Their Applications in Human and Veterinary Health: A Review.

2019

International Immunopharmacology

Egg yolk constitutes a relevant alternative source of antibodies. It presents some advantages over mammalian serum immunoglobulins regarding productivity, animal welfare and specificity. The main immunoglobulin present in avian blood…

EgCel IgY: Technology

Explore our resources library in detail to learn how we are pusuing our vision to be the IgY technology that fills the gap left by the reduction of antibiotic and NSAID use in animal through continual innovation, learning, and challenging the status quo.